12.16.2007

BestBuy has a 'buy one get one free' on all HD movies (Blu-Ray and HD DVD) through December 22nd. While I do not yet have either format player I have decided on HD DVD as I truly dislike Sony (as a corporate entity- but some of their stuff is awesome) and I don't think they will ever succeed with a proprietary format- no mater how many studios or hardware manufacturers are behind them- as they are just too greedy.

I picked up Transformers and the Borne Ultimatum for $30 with the special ($15 each isn't bad even for new releases on standard DVD format). One additional bonus is the Borne Ultimatum is a combo format disk; one side is HD DVD and the other is standard DVD- so I can watch the standard DVD version until I buy a HD DVD player! :o)

I did see one disconcerting item at BestBuy; there is a Sony Blu-Ray player for $299- which is the same price point as a comparable 1080p HD DVD player. I will have to assume that with change in CEOs at Sony they may have realized that price will be the final determining factor in the Format war. I guess the Toshiba HD A2 sales at $98 made the BDA a little nervous as so far their player sales numbers have been relying on the PS3 numbers... (and judging from the huge stack of unsold units at BestBuy may have again slacked off a bit).

Personally I highly doubt that either format will ever really catch on like VHS or DVD players- there just isn't enough advantage over DVD for people to replace their DVD collection with something that is physically identical in form. The picture quality is better, but I think I read somewhere that that 90% of people will not be able to tell the difference between true HD discs and standard upsampled DVD.

At least if one (or both) format fails I will still have a pretty good upsampling DVD player .